Beer
Beer left its oldest known trace in the Raqefet Cave, in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa in northern Israel. Archaeologists found residues there, 13,000 years old, from a drink with the consistency of gruel. The semi-nomadic Natufians used it for ritual feasting. Long before towns, farms or writing, people had already worked out how to ferment grain.
Beer is an alcoholic drink made from the starches of cereal grain, most often malted barley. That plain definition hides some odd puzzles. Why did a drink once thought of as food end up with its own laws? What made one early recipe dangerous if it was heated badly? And how did a single pale style from one city in the present-day Czech Republic come to shape most of the beer sold today? The answers run through goddesses, monks, mineral-rich springs, wild yeast and a few brown glass bottles.
Godin Tepe, in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, holds the earliest clear chemical evidence of beer made from barley. It dates to about 3500-3100 BC. Earlier still, there is evidence that beer was produced at Göbekli Tepe during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, roughly 8500 BC to 5500 BC. Some archaeologists even speculate that beer was instrumental in forming the first civilisations.
The Sumerians drank beer in remarkable variety: eight types from barley, 12 from wheat and 3 from a mixture of grains. Their goddess Ninkasi was believed to oversee the brewing process, and the making and distribution of beer was attributed to women. A prayer to her, known as "The Hymn to Ninkasi", also worked as a way to remember the recipe in a culture with few literate people. It dates to about 1800 BC.
Around 5000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk, in modern Iraq, were paid by their employers in volumes of beer. In Egypt, each worker building the pyramids received a daily ration of four to five litres. That ration served as both nutrition and refreshment, and it was crucial to the pyramids' construction.
The Code of Hammurabi, from about 1750 BC, included laws regulating beer. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the alewife Siduri gives the hero some advice: "Fill your belly. Day and night make merry." It may, at least in part, have referred to drinking beer. Tablets discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, show that the city was producing beer in 2500 BC.
Other regions had their own versions. In China, around 7000 BC, people made a fermented drink from rice and fruit. Unlike sake, it did not use mould to break down the rice, which was probably prepared by chewing or malting. During the Vedic period in Ancient India, records mention a beer-like drink called sura. In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Xenophon noted that in Armenia a "barley wine" was being produced and drunk through straws.
Germanic and Celtic tribes spread beer through Europe as far back as 3000 BC, and it was mainly brewed at home. The early product might not be recognised as beer by most people today. Alongside the basic starch, brewers could add fruits, honey, numerous plants, spices and even narcotic herbs. This mixture was called gruit, and if some of it was improperly heated it could cause hallucinations. Every brewer made it differently.
Hops were not in it. The first mention of hops in beer comes from the year 822 AD, in monastery rules written by Adalard of Corbie. The abbess Hildegard of Bingen mentioned them again in 1067. Widespread cultivation of hops for brewing began only in the thirteenth century. Before then, brewers flavoured beer with plants such as grains of paradise or alehoof, and with blends of aromatic herbs, berries and wormwood.
By the 7th century AD, European monasteries were also producing and selling beer.
The word itself has a debated past. In early English and the Scandinavian languages, the usual word for the drink was the ancestor of modern ale. Beer comes from Old English bēor. In 1975, Christine Fell suggested in Leeds Studies in English that bēor originally meant a strong, sweet drink rather like mead or cider. When hopped ale arrived from Europe in the late Middle Ages, it was called "beer" to set it apart from British unhopped ale.
In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot, or purity law. It allowed only water, hops and barley-malt as ingredients. It is perhaps the oldest food-quality regulation still in use in the 21st century.
The Industrial Revolution then moved brewing from artisanal to industrial manufacture. Domestic production had ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century.
The first step in brewing is mashing, which means mixing malted barley with hot water in a vessel called a mash tun. The starches turn into sugars, and the sweet liquid, called wort, is drained off. The grains are washed so that as much fermentable liquid as possible is extracted. The wort then goes into a kettle, sometimes called a copper, and is boiled with hops.
The length of that boil matters. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness they add, but the less hop flavour and aroma remain. After boiling, the wort is cooled and yeast is added. Fermentation often lasts a week or longer. Most of the carbon dioxide escapes through a trap, and afterwards the yeast settles and leaves the beer clear.
Malt begins as raw grain soaked in water. Once it starts to germinate, it is dried in a kiln. This produces enzymes that convert starch into sugar. Different roasting times and temperatures give different colours of malt from the same grain. Nearly all beers use barley malt for most of the starch, because its fibrous hull stays attached through threshing. After milling, the broken hull acts as a filter bed when the wort is separated from the solids.
Water makes up 93% of beer's weight, and its minerals shape regional styles. Dublin's hard water suits stout such as Guinness. The soft water of the Plzeň Region is ideal for Pilsner such as Pilsner Urquell. The waters of Burton in England contain gypsum, which helps pale ale so much that brewers elsewhere add it in a process called Burtonisation.
The flower of the hop vine is used commercially only to flavour beer. Its bitterness balances the malt's sweetness and is measured on the International Bitterness Units scale. Hops also add floral, citrus and herbal notes, help the foam last, and act as an antibiotic that favours brewer's yeast over unwanted microorganisms.
Yeast does the real transformation by turning sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Top-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae and bottom-fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus are the dominant types. Torulaspora delbrueckii ferments Bavarian weissbier. Before the role of yeast was understood, brewers relied on wild or airborne yeasts.
Some brewers clear the beer with finings. Isinglass comes from the swimbladders of fish, while Irish moss is a seaweed. Beer marked "suitable for vegans" is cleared with seaweed or with artificial agents.
Top-fermenting yeast clumps and rises to the surface, typically at 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. At those temperatures it produces esters, which give fruity notes resembling apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum or prune. Pale ale, which includes India pale ale, is one of the world's major styles. Mild ale is dark and malty, with an alcohol level of 3% to 3.6%. Wheat beer uses a large proportion of wheat.
Stout is made with roasted barley. It began as the strongest variety of porter, a dark brown beer popular with the street and river porters of eighteenth century London. Variations include dry stout, sweet stout and Imperial, or Russian, stout.
Lager takes its name from the German lagern, meaning "to store". Brewers in Bavaria kept beer in cool cellars through warm summers, so it could keep fermenting and clear its sediment. Primary fermentation happens at 7 to 12 degrees Celsius, followed by a long secondary stage at 0 to 4 degrees. The cold holds back esters, giving a cleaner taste. Modern yeast strains mean most breweries need no more than 2 weeks of cold storage, though some traditional lagers still rest for several months. Pale lagers are the most commonly drunk beers in the world.
In Belgium, lambic is fermented with wild yeasts instead of cultivated ones. Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus are common in it, and Lactobacillus bacteria produce acids that add sourness.
Barley is far from the only grain. In Africa, ethnic beers come from sorghum or millet, such as Oshikundu in Namibia and Tella in Ethiopia. Kyrgyzstan has a porridge-like, low-alcohol millet beer called Bozo. In the eastern Himalayas, Chhaang is a semi-fermented rice and millet drink. The Andes have Chicha, made from germinated maize.
Indigenous peoples in Brazil make Cauim, a drink dating to pre-Columbian times. They chew manioc so that amylase in human saliva breaks down the starch into fermentable sugars. Peru has a similar drink, Masato.
Bread beers include Sahti in Finland, Kvass in Russia and Ukraine, and Bouza in Sudan. Fermented bread was used in Mesopotamia 4000 years ago. Food waste activists inspired by those recipes now replace a third of the malted barley in their craft ale with leftover bread.
In 1642, brewers first used coke to roast malt, and by around 1703 the term pale ale was in use. Coke gives off heat with little smoke, which leaves malt light in colour. Most of today's beer by sales volume descends from the pale lager brewed in 1842 in the city of Plzeň. Dark beers are usually a pale or lager malt base with a small amount of darker malt added. Caramel is also widely used to darken beer, and very dark beers such as stout use malts roasted longer.
Modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume. Pale lagers typically sit at 5%, while many British session beers are around 4%. In Belgium, some table beers have 1% to 4% alcohol and are served instead of soft drinks in some schools. The weakest beers, described as alcohol-free, typically contain 0.05%. Low-alcohol beers may contain 1.2% or less, and conventional beers average 4.4%.
The upper limit climbed during the later years of the 20th century. Vetter 33, a 10.5% doppelbock, was listed in the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records as the strongest beer. The Swiss brewer Hürlimann's Samichlaus, at 14%, had been listed as well. Samuel Adams reached 20% with Millennium, then 25.6% with Utopias, using champagne yeast. Baz's Super Brew by Parish Brewery, at 23%, is the strongest brewed in Britain.
Then came freezing. In the eisbock method, a strong ale is partly frozen and the ice is removed again and again. BrewDog made Tactical Nuclear Penguin, a 32% Imperial stout, and Sink The Bismarck!, a 41% IPA. In 2010 the same company made The End of History, a 55% Belgian ale. Schorschbräu's 2011 Schorschbock 57 reached 57.5%. A process like this may class the product as spirits rather than beer.
In July 2010 a Dutch brewery jokingly claimed a 60% blend of beer with whiskey as the strongest beer.
Cask ale arrives in a pub and is placed horizontally on a stillage frame. It cools to cellar temperature, typically between 11 and 13 degrees Celsius, and is then tapped and vented. A tap is driven through a rubber bung, and a hard spile opens a hole in the top of the cask. All the sediment is disturbed, so the beer needs hours to days to drop clear. The Campaign for Real Ale coined the term "real ale" in 1973 for beer matured in its serving container and served without extraneous carbon dioxide.
Draught beer from a pressurised keg is the most common way to serve beer in bars around the world. Carbon dioxide drives the beer to the tap. Some beers use a nitrogen and carbon dioxide mixture, whose fine bubbles give a dense head and a creamy mouthfeel. In the 1980s, Guinness introduced the beer widget, a nitrogen-pressurised ball inside a can that approximates keg service.
In 1912, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, began using brown bottles. The idea spread worldwide because it keeps light from degrading the beer. Cans also block light and seal well. In Sweden in 2001-63.9% of beer was sold in cans. Crown Holdings developed a "full aperture" can for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, whose entire lid comes off to turn the can into a drinking cup.
Drinking chilled beer began with artificial refrigeration, and by the 1870s it had spread in countries focused on pale lager. The beer writer Michael Jackson proposed a five-level scale, from well chilled at 7 degrees Celsius for pale lagers to room temperature at 15.5 degrees for strong dark ales and barley wine. Below 15.5 degrees, chilling starts to reduce taste awareness. Cask Marque sets a standard range of 12 to 14 degrees for cask ales.
Pub games such as darts and cards sit alongside beer festivals, brewery tours and the study of beer, called zythology. A newer profession is the beer sommelier, who advises diners on food pairings. The wine writer Malcolm Gluck disputed the need to pair beer with food, and the beer writers Roger Protz and Melissa Cole contested that claim.
Even the pour matters. The tilt of the glass and the position of the pour change the size and longevity of the head. A beer tower, a tall cooled container with a tap at its base, lets a group serve themselves.
A 2018 systematic analysis found that ethanol drinking increases mortality. In the United States, about 88,000 deaths per year, or 5.9% of all deaths, are believed to be due to alcohol. No professional medical association recommends that nondrinkers start. Some studies linked small quantities to lower risks of heart disease and early death, but they grouped former drinkers with lifelong abstainers, which obscures the benefits of abstaining. Like all alcoholic drinks, beer is an IARC group 1 carcinogen, and alcoholism reduces life expectancy by around ten years.
Beer is sometimes called "liquid bread", though it is not a meal in itself. It can contain magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, chromium and B vitamins. A 2004 study found a link between binge drinking and a beer belly, but overeating and poor muscle tone are the main causes. The brewing steps also cut pesticide residues from grain, typically by 50-90% at each stage.
In 2006, more than 133 billion litres of beer were sold worldwide, producing revenues of US$294.5 billion. Sales of beer are four times those of wine, the second most popular alcoholic drink. In 2010, China's beer drinking was nearly twice that of the United States, but only 5 per cent of it was premium beer. In France and Germany, 50 per cent was premium.
In 2002, South African Breweries bought Miller to found SABMiller. In 2004, Interbrew and AmBev merged into InBev. SABMiller bought Royal Grolsch in 2007. In 2008, InBev bought Anheuser-Busch, and the new Anheuser-Busch InBev became the largest brewer in the world. Market research firm Technavio later ranked Heineken second, CR Snow third, Carlsberg fourth and Molson Coors fifth.
Small brewers remain. In the US, a microbrewery can make up to 15,000 barrels a year. Upper Franconia in Germany has about 200 breweries, the highest density in the world. The Benedictine Weihenstephan brewery in Bavaria traces its roots to a document from the year 768. It claims to be the oldest working brewery in the world.
A widely publicised study in 2018 suggested that sudden drops in barley production, caused by extreme drought and heat, could cause substantial volatility in the availability and price of beer.
Updated
Common questions
What is beer made from?
Beer is made from the starches of cereal grain, most commonly malted barley, though wheat, maize, rice and oats are also used. The grain is mashed into sugary wort, which yeast ferments into ethanol and carbonation. Most modern beer also uses hops.
How old is the oldest evidence of beer?
The earliest archaeological evidence of beer fermentation is 13,000 years old, found at the Raqefet Cave near Haifa in northern Israel. The earliest clear chemical evidence of barley beer comes from Godin Tepe in western Iran, dated to about 3500-3100 BC.
What is the difference between ale and lager beer?
Ale is made with top-fermenting yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, at about 15 to 25 degrees Celsius, giving fruity flavours. Lager is made with bottom-fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus, fermented cool at 7 to 12 degrees and then stored near 0 to 4 degrees for a cleaner taste.
What is the Reinheitsgebot beer purity law?
The Reinheitsgebot was adopted in 1516 by William IV, Duke of Bavaria. It allowed only water, hops and barley-malt as ingredients in beer, and is perhaps the oldest food-quality regulation still in use in the 21st century.
What do hops do in beer?
Hops add bitterness that balances the malt's sweetness, along with floral, citrus and herbal aromas. They also act as a natural preservative, favour brewer's yeast over unwanted microorganisms and help the foam last.
How strong is beer?
Modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume, with pale lagers typically at 5%. Strengths range from under 3% to about 14%, and freezing methods have produced beers of 55% and more, which may count as spirits.
Who are the biggest beer companies in the world?
Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest brewing company, formed after InBev bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008. Technavio ranked Heineken second, CR Snow third, Carlsberg fourth and Molson Coors fifth.
All sources
222 references cited across the entry
- 1beer, n.1.Oxford University Press — 1887
- 2ReportBeorChristine Fell — University of Leeds — 1975
- 3BookWorld's Best Beers: One thousand craft brews from cask to glassBen McFarland — Sterling Publishing — 2009
- 4News'World's oldest brewery' found in cave in Israel, say researchers15 September 2018
- 5News13,000 year-old brewery discovered in Israel – the oldest in the worldAmanda Borschel-Dan — 2018-09-12
- 6JournalThe role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern TurkeyOliver Dietrich et al. — September 2012
- 7BookUncorking the PastPatrick McGovern — University of California Press — 2009
- 8NewsJar in Iranian ruins betrays beer drinkers of 3500 B.C.John Noble Wilford — 1992-11-05
- 9Beer
- 10JournalBeer and its drinkers: An ancient Near Eastern love storyMichael M. Homan — June 2004
- 11NewsArcheologists link rise of civilization and beer's invention8 November 2010
- 12BookDrink: A Cultural History of AlcoholIain Gately — Penguin Publishing Group — 2008
- 13MagazineThe world's oldest paycheck was cashed in beerAlison George — 22 June 2016
- 14MagazineThe beer archaeologistAbigail Tucker — August 2011
- 15JournalA Hymn to NinkasiJ. Dyneley Prince — 1916
- 16JournalOn beer and brewing techniques in ancient MesopotamiaL.F. Hartman et al. — 1950
- 17Dumper, Stanley. 2007, p. 141.
- 18JournalFermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic ChinaPatrick E. McGovern et al. — 2004
- 19Li wine: The beer of ancient China15 July 2009
- 20JournalRevealing a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in ChinaJiajing Wang et al. — 2016-06-07
- 21BookGem in the LotusAbraham Eraly — Penguin Books — 2002
- 22BookCultural History of IndiaOm Prakash — New Age International — 2005
- 23MagazineArmenia might be one of the oldest and youngest beer-making countries in the worldKarine Vann — 13 September 2017
- 24BookA History of Beer and BrewingIan Spencer Hornsey — Royal Society of Chemistry — 2003
- 25BookThe Barbarians' Beverage: A history of beer in ancient EuropeMax Nelson — Routledge — 2005
- 26Beer historyDreher Breweries
- 27BookBeer in the Middle Ages and the RenaissanceRichard W. Unger — University of Pennsylvania Press — 2004
- 28Magazine492 years of good beer: Germans toast the anniversary of their beer purity law23 April 2008
- 29BookBeer: The story of the pintMartyn Cornell — Headline — 2003
- 31ReportCompany list
- 32NewsPremium Chinese beer a bitter brew for foreign brands3 November 2011
- 34JournalDecreases in global beer supply due to extreme drought and heatWei Xie et al. — 2018
- 35Roger Protz tries his hand at brewingBeer-pages.com — June 2007
- 36Goldhammer, Ted (2008), The Brewer's Handbook, 2nd ed., Apex, pp. 181 ff.
- 37Copper Brewing VesselsMsm.cam.ac.uk
- 38BookBrewingMichael J. Lewis et al. — 2001
- 39BookThe Brewers HandbookTed Goldammer — Apex Publishing — 2000
- 46NewsGeology and BeerAugust 2004
- 50CAMRA & The First International Gluten Free Beer FestivalCarolyn Smagalski — Carolyn Smagalski, Bella Online — 2006
- 51A. H. Burgess, Hops: Botany, Cultivation and Utilization, Leonard Hill (1964),
- 52BookBeer in the Middle Ages and the RenaissanceRichard W. Unger — University of Pennsylvania Press — 2004
- 54Heatherale.co.ukFraoch.com
- 56Head RetentionBrewWiki
- 57Hop Products: Iso-ExtractHopsteiner
- 59JournalA better control of beer properties by predicting acidity of hop iso-α-acidsCarlos A. Blanco et al. — July 2006
- 60JournalMetabolic Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeSimon Ostergaard et al. — 1 March 2000
- 65Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter — A pint of cloudy, pleaseBeerhunter.com
- 68NewsBrewer to snap up Miller for $5.6B30 May 2002
- 69Press releaseInBev Completes Acquisition of Anheuser-BuschAB-InBev — 18 November 2008
- 71MicrobreweryBrewers Association — 2012
- 74NewsFlaschenkundeChristof Siemes et al. — 2012-05-31
- 75BookHandbook of Brewing: Processes, Technology, MarketsWiley — 4 June 2009
- 78NewsStill bitter after all these yearsPeter Oborne — 9 November 2000
- 79Roger Protz on India Pale alebeer-pages.com
- 80Beer and Ale GlossaryHerbst, Ron — Barron's Educational Series — 2015
- 81BookMild ale : history, brewing techniques, recipesDavid Sutula — Brewers Publications — 1999
- 82BookGerman Wheat BeerEric Warner — Brewers Publications — 1992
- 83Porter and StoutCAMRA
- 85Porter casts a long shadow on ale historybeerhunter.com
- 88Science: Warm maturation and cold stabilisationTim O'Rourke — 15 June 2022
- 89Webb, Tim; Pollard, Chris; and Pattyn, Joris; Lambicland: Lambikland, Rev Ed. (Cogan and Mater Ltd, 2004), .
- 91Traditional Foods of the Central Ethiopian HighlandsEthnomed.org
- 92BookFood culture in Russia and Central AsiaAsele Surina et al. — Greenwood Press — 2005
- 95BookThe Anthropological ReviewAnthropological Society of London — Trübner — 1863
- 96NewsThe brewery that turns bread into beerOli Bloor et al. — 18 December 2017
- 97NewsWorld's strongest beer reclaimed16 February 2010
- 98The Analysis CommitteeEuropean Brewery Convention
- 99Beer and Brewing GlossaryLehigh Valley Homebrewers — 2007
- 102Martyn Cornell, Beer: The Story of the Pint, Headline (2004),
- 104BookThe Beer Wench's Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft BeerAshley Routson — Voyageur Press — 2015
- 107BookEuropean Beer Statistics: Beer production by strengthRon Pattinson — European Beer Guide — 6 July 2007
- 108Fourth Annual Bend Brew FestBendbrewfest.com
- 109BookBeer Facts 2003The Brewers of Europe — 6 January 2004
- 110NewsSchool dinner? Mine's a lager, pleaseAndrew Osborn — 21 June 2001
- 112BookVetter Brauhaus
- 114Schloss EggenbergSchloss-eggenberg.at
- 115Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter — Mine's a pint of Santa ClausBeerhunter.com
- 117NewsThe 48 proof beerRealbeer — 13 February 2002
- 118Parish: brewery detail from Beermadbeermad.org.uk
- 119Brewery Souvenirs – Parish Brewerybrewerysouvenirs.co.uk
- 120BrewDog — Ghost Deerbrewdog.com
- 121BrewDog BlogMTC Media
- 124NewsStrongest beer in the world: Brewdog produces 41pc ale16 February 2010
- 125News'World's strongest' beer with 32% strength launched26 November 2009
- 128NewsScottish brewer claims world's strongest beer | Society | guardian.co.ukSeverin Carrell — 26 November 2009
- 131Hair of the Dog Dave from Hair of the Dog Brewing Companyratebeer.com
- 132NewsBrewer claims world's strongest beerBen Berkowitz — 29 July 2010
- 133Welkom bij Brouwerij Het Koelschipbrouwerijhetkoelschip.nl
- 134BookDraft Beer Quality ManualBrewers Publications — 2019
- 135How does the widget in a beer can work?HowStuffWorks — 16 August 2000
- 136Beer Temperaturecask-marque.co.uk — 7 July 2014
- 137Draught Beats Bottled in Life Cycle Analysistreehugger.com
- 138JournalLCA of an Italian lagerMauro Cordella et al. — 2007
- 139Carbon Footprint of Fat Tire Amber Alenewbelgium.com
- 140Ecological effects of beerecofx.org
- 141When Passions Collide ...terrapass.com
- 144European Beer Statistics—beer sales by package typeEuropean Beer Guide
- 146Beer Packaging SecretsAll About Beer Magazine
- 147Holsten-Brauerei Pet Line for Bottled Beer, Brunswick, GermanyPackaging-Gateway.com
- 150BookIntroductory Chemistry: A FoundationCengage Learning — 2004
- 154F. G. Priest, Graham G. Stewart, Handbook of Brewing (2006), 48
- 155How Miller Brands partners with licensees to drive salesthepublican.com
- 157Boston licensing officials suspend use of large, portable "beer towers"Matt Rocheleau — Boston.com — 29 March 2011
- 158JournalThe parallel factor analysis of beer fluorescenceTatjana Dramićanin et al. — 8 August 2019
- 159JournalDetermination of free and bound phenolic acids in beerM. Nardini — 2004
- 160JournalMetabolism of 8-prenylnaringenin, a potent phytoestrogen from hops (Humulus lupulus), by human liver microsomesD. Nikolic et al. — 2004
- 162JournalTryptophol, tyrosol, and phenylethanol - the aromatic higher alcohols in beerClara M. Szlavko — 1973
- 163JournalOn the presence in wine of tyrosol, tryptophol, phenylethyl alcohol and gamma-butyrolactone, secondary products of alcoholic fermentationP. Ribéreau-Gayon et al. — 1965
- 164Calories in Popular BeersJenny Sugar — Fitsugar.com — 25 October 2013
- 165Beer as liquid bread: Overlapping science.Charles W. Bamforth — 17–20 September 2006
- 166BookBeer: Health and NutritionCharles W. Bamforth — John Wiley & Sons — 15 April 2008
- 167JournalAlcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016Max G. Griswold et al. — 2018
- 170JournalAlcohol and cardiovascular health: the dose makes the poison...or the remedy.J.H. O'Keefe et al. — March 2014
- 171IARC Strengthens Its Findings on Several Carcinogenic Personal Habits and Household ExposuresInternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
- 173JournalClassification of Alcohol Use DisordersDeborah Hasin — December 2003
- 174Alcohol Use Disorder: A Comparison Between DSM–IV and DSM–5November 2013
- 175JournalRecognition and management of withdrawal delirium (delirium tremens).M.A. Schuckit — 27 November 2014
- 176NewsDrink binges 'cause beer belly'28 November 2004
- 177BookIs there maltose in your beer?Bob Skilnik — Realbeer
- 178JournalThe effect of the multi-stage process of wheat beer brewing on the behavior of pesticides according to their physicochemical propertiesPiotr Kaczyński et al. — June 2024
- 179Beer before breadUniversity of Alaska
- 181BookThe Literature of Ancient SumerJeremy A. Black et al. — Oxford University Press — 2004
- 182NewsDon't worry, be hoppy: The Weekender's Guide to Beer8 August 2013
- 183NewsInternational Beer Day: 10 things you never knew about beer1 August 2014
- 184Leslie Dunkling & Michael Jackson, The Guinness Drinking Companion, Lyons Press (2003),
- 185The Pong Arm of the LawChris Shott — 7 October 2005
- 187NewsChipotle beer heats up Cinco de MayoLinda Murphy — 4 May 2006
- 188NewsFred Eckhardt 's Beer-and-Cheese TastingJohn Foyston — Oregonian — 18 July 2007
- 189NewsForget wine and cheese parties – the true soul mate for fromage isn't made from grape juice.Janet Fletcher — 17 February 2005
- 193JournalBeer BossMichael Sherer — 1 June 2001
- 194JournalAlcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological PerspectivesMichael Dietler — 2006
- 196BookBrewed in Japan: The evolution of the Japanese beer industryJeffrey W. Alexander — University of British Columbia Press — 2013
- 197BookAle, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's work in a changing world, 1300–1600Judith M. Bennett — Oxford University Press — 26 January 1996
- 198BookCities of the Middle East and North Africa: A historical encyclopediaMichael Dumper et al. — ABC-CLIO — 2007
- 199BookBeer: The story of the pintMartyn Cornell — Headline — 26 January 2024
- 200BookThe Book of Beer Knowledge: Essential wisdom for the discerning drinker, a useful miscellanyJeff Evans — CAMRA Books — 26 January 2024
- 201BookThe World Encyclopedia of BeerBrian Glover — Lorenz Books — 26 January 2024
- 202BookBeer: An Illustrated HistoryBrian Glover — Hermes House — 26 January 2024
- 203BookThe Beer BookTim Hampson — Dorling Kindersley — 26 January 2024
- 204BookBeer and Britannia: An inebriated history of BritainPeter Haydon — Sutton — 26 January 2024
- 205BookA History of Beer and BrewingI. Hornsey — Royal Society of Chemistry — 26 January 2024
- 206BookThe World Guide to BeerMichael J. Jackson — Apple Press — 6 November 1977
- 207BookThe New World Guide to BeerMichael J. Jackson — Courage Books — 26 January 1988
- 208BookMichael Jackson's Beer CompanionMichael J. Jackson — Running Press — 2000
- 209Archeological parameters for the origins of beerThomas W. Kavanagh
- 210BookBeer in America: The early years 1587–1840 — beer's role in the settling of America and the birth of a nationGregg Smith — Siris Books — 26 January 1998
- 211BookFarmhouse Ales: Culture and craftsmanship in the Belgian traditionPhil Marowski — Brewers Publications — 26 January 2024
- 212BookThe Barbarian's Beverage: A history of beer in ancient EuropeMax Nelson — Routledge — 26 January 2024
- 213BookThe Brewmaster's TableGarrett Oliver — HarperCollins — 3 May 2005
- 214BookThe Complete Joy of HomebrewingCharlie Papazian — HarperCollins — August 1994
- 215BookThe Complete Guide to World BeerRoger Protz — Carlton — 2004
- 216BookGone for a Burton: Memories from a great British heritageBob Ricketts — Pen Press Publishers Limited — January 2005
- 217BookCountry House Brewing in England, 1500–1900Pamela Sambrook — Bloomsbury Academic — 2 August 2003
- 218BookBig Book of BeerAdrian Tierney-Jones — CAMRA — 26 January 2024
- 219Book1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You DieAdrian Tierney-Jones — National Geographic Books — 23 March 2010
- 220BookBacchus and Civic Order: The culture of drink in early modern GermanyAnn Tlusty — University of Virginia Press — 26 January 2024
- 221BookBeer and Breweries of the Czech RepublicJan Eliášek — Vydavatelství MCU — 26 January 2024
- 222BookGood Beer Guide Prague & the Czech RepublicEvan Rail — CAMRA — 26 January 2024
- 223BookThe New Oxford Book of Food PlantsJ.G. Vaughan et al. — Oxford University Press — 1997